From Arctic Snow to Desert Sand

by Griff Hosker

  “I know. It was different in France. We had German aeroplanes and ground fire making life hard for us. So long as they have neither machine guns nor aeroplanes, then we hold all the aces.”

  I had a briefing with my pilots the next day. “After I visited the Ark Royal yesterday I spoke with the resident. He said that there are a couple of forts. One at Jideli and one at Taleh. It is likely that the Mullah will have gone there. They have now seen our aeroplanes and they will know what we can do. I do not think that they will run so quickly a second time. Today we go for reconnaissance. I want to find this fort at Jideli.”

  “Do we know where it is sir?”

  “South and east of us. It stands on a seven-hundred-foot escarpment and guards the road east and also to the Ogaden.”

  “Ogaden sir?”

  “That is the part of Ethiopia which has even fewer roads and settlements than Somaliland.”

  Lieutenant Hobson laughed, “Hard to believe that, sir.”

  “Me too, Hobson. Today we find this fort and then return here. I want us to fly so that every aeroplane is in sight of another. I do not want a repeat of the problem Lieutenant Hobson had. Squadron Leader Thomson will be in the centre. We find the fort and then return. I intend to destroy it but we will need the army to finish the job. This fort has caves beneath it. When we attack, some will hide there where they will be protected from our bombs. The army will be tasked with winkling them out. We leave in thirty minutes.”

  Jideli was an ancient hill fort. It was just thirty-five miles from us. It was on a solid piece of rock above the road. The guns there could stop us using it. The road ran east to the more inhospitable parts of Somaliland. There were mud huts, stone towers and walls. They had a ditch and a wooden bridge across it. It was Lieutenant Reed who spotted it. When he waggled his wings and descended Jack and I joined him. We flew over at a thousand feet. Rifles and muskets were fired at us but they had never fired at aeroplanes before and they wasted their bullets. The observers and gunners would see more than I did but I could see that it had a large garrison. There were camels and horses tethered in lines. We had seen enough and we headed home.

  The two colonels were waiting for me. They had a shade erected and were sitting in canvas chairs smoking. Williams hurried over with a chair for me. “Well, Wing Commander, how did it go?”

  “We found them. They have a larger number of men in the fort.”

  Colonel Farquhar nodded, “They have half a dozen of these forts dotted all over the highlands. They have caves beneath them. We have tried to take them before but camels are not what is needed.”

  “My aim is to attack them tomorrow. We will make a dawn raid and then return later in the day.”

  “We can’t be there by dawn even with the lorries.”

  “That is not what I intend. Leave the men here who went out on patrol yesterday. They will be our reserve. Take supplies for a week in the field. If you leave in the morning then you should be able to reach the fort by the afternoon and we will make our second attack then. Hopefully that will eliminate the defences. When they take to their caves then you can winkle them out. You can stay in their fort. We will then find their other forts and communicate by radio. We have a range of almost two hundred miles. We can cover more ground than you can.”

  Colonel Pritchard nodded, “Very well sir, you are in command.”

  I knew that the two colonels were finding it hard to take orders from an officer who was so much younger than they were. “You should know, gentlemen, that as soon as Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan is no longer a threat then we shall be leaving the area and returning to Egypt. This is only a temporary arrangement.”

  “Quite.” They both seemed mollified and, if I was to be truthful I was not bothered if they resented me. Both had had an easier war than their colleagues on the Western Front.

  I left them and joined Ted and Jack along with Sergeant Major Hale at the admin tent. “I want two strikes tomorrow. We leave before dawn. Now that we know where they are we can hit them as the sun rises. We come back, rearm, refuel, have a bite to eat and then hit them again. The army will then take the fort. The days following will see us finding their other forts.”

  “Are you keeping any troops here to guard the camp sir?”

  “Yes, Sergeant Major. There will be two sections left to watch the prisoners and to keep an eye on the tents. However, we need to keep the bulk of the soldiers in the field.”

  “And what will you do when we attack Taleh sir? That is beyond the range of your Dolphin.”

  “I have three choices. I can commandeer one of your pilots’ buses. I can stay here and listen in on the radio or I can accompany the army. I will make my decision when it is the only target left to us.”

  “Don’t forget, sir, tomorrow is Saturday. You told the resident that the three of us would be dining with him.”

  I had forgotten. “I suppose it would be rude to cancel.”

  Captain Connor nodded, “When I went to visit the Ark yesterday I met him. He is really keen to dine with us. He has gone to a great deal of trouble.”

  I sighed. Beattie would tell me I had a duty to go as would my mother. I had been brought up too well. “Very well. Who will command in our absence, Jack?”

  “Why not let the Captain of the King’s African Rifles. They will have the more onerous duty, watching over the prisoners.”

  “Very well. You had better tell him tonight, Ted.”

  “Right sir.”

  The two colonels led their men out before dawn. They had plenty of time to reach their destination. I think they left then as it was much cooler. We left not long after them. There was light in the sky but I had fuel burned to mark the runway. This time I led. The bombers flew in lines of three. Two were alongside me. Above us flew Lieutenant Sanderson in the air ambulance. Both army units had a doctor but we could evacuate anyone seriously hurt back to the Ark Royal where they had a clean and sterile sick bay.

  We flew directly for the fort this time. They would hear us but, coming from the west be would be in the darker part of the sky. As the sun rose I saw the two towers sticking up from the skyline. When we had flown over the previous day we had been at a thousand feet. We dropped to eight hundred. That would mean we were just a hundred feet above the walls. I cocked my Vickers. While the others bombed, I would strafe. I kept glancing to the two DH 9as on either side of me. We had to hit together for maximum effect.

  At a hundred yards I opened fire at the gate. Two hundred and fifty bullets can do a great deal of damage. When the right-hand Vickers clicked on empty I cocked the second one. I fired as soon as we were over the walls. My first bullets threw men from the walls and then my next ones hit the building in the middle. I stopped firing. The first four bombs exploded in my mirror. I saw chunks of the wall and the gate disappear in smoke. Then we were over the wall and we banked to come around for a second pass. As we did so I saw that there was a machine gun on one of the towers. We swept around in a large circle. Overhead Lieutenant Sanderson kept his lazy circles going.

  The last bombers had dropped their loads as we came around. I increased my speed. We did not need to keep formation any longer. I aimed my aeroplane at the tower with the machine gun. He saw me and fired at me. It was a Lewis gun and he fired too early. The bullets arced down below me. I waited until I was a hundred yards from him. They were changing the magazine as my Vickers hurled .303 rounds into them. This was a mud covered stone edifice. Even so the bullets tore into it sending pieces of mud and stone to the ground. The blood of the gunners stained the white walls red as they died.

  Having emptied my machine guns, I rose to join Lieutenant Sanderson. I wanted to be able to see the damage we were inflicting. The pilots were now choosing the parts of the fort which had, hitherto, escaped damage. The gates had been shredded by me and their remains demolished by a bomb. Terrified horses and camels now fled through the open gate. By the time I reached Lieutenant Sanderson at a thousand feet the DH 9as were straf
ing the Dervishes who tried to escape. I had no doubt that many took refuge in the caves beneath the fort. I had enough fuel for another hour. When the rest of the squadron had used their ordinance, Jack sent them back to the field and he joined me overhead. He had the radio and he would be communicating with the column. With greater endurance, the Nanaks stayed longer than I could and I left. The rest of the squadron had landed and were eating by the time I landed. I had just got my pipe going when Captain Connor waved to me from the admin tent.

  “Sir, Squadron Leader Thomson has the column in sight. He is on his way back.”

  “Good. Sergeant Major Robson, have the aeroplanes refuelled and rearmed. We go back after a bite to eat.”

  “Right sir.”

  We had bully beef sandwiches. Somehow, Williams had managed to get hold of some Coleman’s English mustard. They were delicious! Poor Jack and Lieutenant Sanderson barely had time to turn around. They gobbled down their sandwiches and washed them down with hot tea. Jack reported to me as he ate. “They were trying to repair the gate when we left. The column was about five miles away when.”

  “I pray that they just surround the fort and wait for us.”

  “Those were your orders sir.”

  “I know but they may try to storm it. I hope not. This time concentrate on the gate. Make it untenable.”

  “We also spotted a smaller redoubt to the side.”

  “Then have half your bombers take that one out too. You lead the ones attacking the redoubt and I will take in the others. We might just break the enemies’ will to fight.”

  We left at about two in the afternoon. It took just thirty minutes to reach the fort. Smoke was still rising from the fires we had started. We later discovered that some of the bombs had hit the stables and set alight the dung. That would burn and burn. I saw that my orders had been obeyed. The column had encircled the fort. I could see that they had prisoners. The soldiers waved as we zoomed overhead.

  The gates had been crudely repaired. We flew in line astern. That way if a target was destroyed then the next aeroplane could take the next target. I cocked my Vickers and looked for a target. They had men on the fighting platform over the gate. Using my rudder I swung my Dolphin to allow me to clear the whole wall. The parapet was more mud than stone and my bullets tore lumps out of it. Men fell and then I was over. Behind me I saw the first two bombs land just outside the gate. The explosion shattered them. The second one completely demolished the gatehouse. There was a gap sixty feet wide.

  I banked to port and fired at the men standing on the remains of the south wall. Beyond it I saw the redoubt being pounded by bombs. I banked to starboard to allow me to view the perimeter. The walls were now indefensible. As I came around to the front I saw dismounted camel troopers and the Rifles as they raced up the slope. There was no gunfire to greet them. They would have the dangerous task of ferreting out the Dervishes who were hiding in the caves but that could be done by the judicious use of hand grenades.

  We headed home.

  Chapter 14

  When we got back I felt exhausted. It had been a long day and yet I knew that we had to go to dinner with the resident. Corporal Swanston was grinning as we approached the admin tent, “Sir, Captain Connor said as how you were going out to dinner tonight and me and Willy decided that you couldn’t go out smelling like the inside of a Turkish camel driver’s armpit. No offence, sir. We have rigged up a shower. It is cold water but it is clean, sir and it will cool you down nicely.” I saw Aircraftman Williams nodding vigorously.

  “That is very thoughtful of you.”

  “And we will drive you down in the Crossley, sir. We can pick you up after. I dare say you will be having a bevvy or two!”

  “I daresay we will. Thank you.” The two of them were the salt of the earth and were what had made the British Army what it was. They were resourceful and cheerful. Who could ask for more?

  Before I contemplated showering and changing I wrote my reports. I would give them to Captain Mainwaring before the dinner. When I was happy with my account, I stripped down to my shorts and grabbed a towel. “Right gentlemen, lead me to my bath!”

  They had rigged a canvas screen up. I saw that they had an old drum suspended above it. I guessed it had water in it and I hoped that it had been cleaned. What I could not work out was how it would work as a shower. Swanston pointed to a piece of rope suspended from the bottom of the drum. When I peered inside I saw that there was a piece of tubing and what looked like a bully beef tin with holes in it. “When you pull the rope sir, it operates a lever. It has a spring so that when you stop pulling the water stops flowing.”

  Williams handed me a bar of army soap. “Here y’are sir. We will keep watch for you.”

  Obligingly they turned their backs. I stepped inside and took off my shorts and underwear. Feeling more than a little worried in case the fifty-gallon drum came crashing down on my head I pulled on the rope and was rewarded by deliciously cold water. I almost let too much water flow. I released the rope and the water stopped. I lathered up and then repeated the action. It worked. It was a little primitive and it was cold but it was functional and I felt refreshed. I towelled myself dry and, wrapping the towel around my waist, I picked up my shorts and underwear and headed for my tent. “Thank you, gentlemen. Much obliged.”

  “There is some hot water in your tent sir and we have stropped your razor for you.”

  By the time I had shaved and dressed in my best uniform, I felt almost human. I picked up my report and, leaving my tent said, “One of you fetch the Crossley and the other tell the Squadron Leader and the Captain that we are ready to go.”

  When the other two arrived, I felt guilty. They had had to make do with a basin wash. “I am sorry, chaps. I should have told you that we have a shower now.”

  Captain Connor shook his head and smiled but Jack glowered at the two airmen. They quickly put the ladder for us to climb in the back of the light truck. It was a twisting five mile drive down the valley to the port. There was a shorter, three-mile route, but that involved walking. Once we reached the port I went aboard the Ark Royal and handed my report to the radio operator. The Captain and his officers were at dinner and I did not bother him. The evening felt pleasant as I walked down the gangway. Perhaps it was the shower or the clean uniform which had put me in such a good mood. As I reached the truck I said, “You don’t need to bother picking us up. We will walk back.”

  “Are you certain, sir? It is no bother!” Corporal Swanston looked nervously at Jack.

  “I, for one, would like the walk. We are not flying tomorrow and I daresay we will be celebrating tonight.”

  Ted nodded, “Splendid idea!”

  Jack was forced to nod, “Just so long as you show us the shower tomorrow morning, Corporal!”

  “Of course, sir. We will fill it up for you tonight!”

  They jumped in the cab and the lorry laboured up the slope. We walked across the road to the residency. We were greeted by a turbaned Indian, “Welcome gentleman, the resident is on the balcony waiting for you. If you give me your hats, swagger sticks and guns I will look after them for you.”

  We handed over our weapons, hats and sticks. I did not think we would need our guns in the residency, especially as the major domo locked and bolted the door. We ascended a splendid spiral staircase which brought us to a cosy dining room. The major domo held open the door. “If you would care to join the resident I will see to the food.”

  The dining room looked like it would hold twelve but it was set just for six. The open door led to the balcony and there we saw Reginald St. John Browne. He was smoking a Turkish cigarette. With him was a young man and an older, heavier and rather sweaty man.

  “I am so glad you are here.” He looked behind us, “Where are the colonels?”

  “They are in the field, sir. Sorry.”

  Nodding he pointed to each of us in turn, “This is Wing Commander William Harsker, V.C., Squadron Leader John Thomson D.S.O and Captain Ted Conno
r M.C.”

  We nodded.

  “May I introduce Arthur Clarke. He is an American who is here with a view to leasing the mineral rights to Somaliland from the British Government. He has the steamboat which is moored on the other side of the Ark Royal.”

  “Pleased to meet you fellows. Reggie here has been telling me all about you.” From St. John Browne’s wince, I gathered he did not like to be addressed in such a familiar manner but he was a diplomat and the smile he faked hid it. I had met Americans before and I put his accent west of the Mississippi. “I hope you can sort out these damned troublemakers! Mineral rights are no good if you have religious fanatics chopping heads from God fearing folk.”

  The resident shook his head, “Mr. Clarke had two of his engineers kidnapped a month or so back. We found their bodies but not their heads. They had been, er, mutilated.”

  “Barbaric! I complained to your government! I am glad that they took notice of what I said.”

  Once again, I saw the resident react. It was obvious to me that it was a coincidence that we had been sent. It would not hurt to give the illusion that HMG listened to businessmen even though they did not.

  “And this is my secretary, Peter Hardwicke.”

  I saw that the secretary could have been a younger version of Reginald St. John Browne. He was small neat, quietly spoken and with precise movements. He looked to be barely twenty. He nodded, “Can I say, that I envy all three of you. Had it not been for a health problem then I would have loved to have served in the Royal Flying Corps.”

  A second turbaned servant, Gupta, arrived with three sherries. We each took one and I raised my glass, “Thank you, sir. This is a genuine pleasure. Crystal glasses, white linen tablecloths and a cool breeze from the sea. This is as close to perfect as it gets for us fliers, sir.”

  “Yes, I do like it here. I know many people wondered at my acceptance of this position. I was in Calcutta for many years. You have seen the two servants who followed me here but when I came here in 1916 it was because this will be my last posting and I believe that we owe it to the people of this land to make their lives more bearable. We did it in India and we can do it here.”